November Insights from Newzoo’s PC Game Tracker: ARK: Survival Evolved Boasts Its Highest Share of Core PC Gamers All Year

November was an important month for Studio Wildcard’s ARK: Survival Evolved. The action-adventure survival game’s third paid expansion, Extinction, was released on PC on November 6, 2018 and is the final piece of content for the game’s season pass. This new expansion, coupled with some smart decisions by Studio Wildcard, attracted plenty of players. In fact, our PC Game Tracker shows that the game was played by 2.4% of the world’s core PC gamers in November. Read on for a deep dive into the game’s performance, how it compared to other survival games, and—as always—a panoramic look at the month’s most popular core PC games.

ARK Enjoys Plenty of Popularity in November, Especially Among European Core Gamers

Following the release of the Extinction expansion, 2.4% of core PC gamers checked out ARK: Survival Evolved in November—that’s month-on-month player share growth of +68.5%. It is also the game’s highest player share this year.

The game’s popularity spike resulted in ARK jumping a remarkable 17 spots to #17 in our November ranking for the most popular core PC games.

And ARK’s impressive player share and growth are not solely due to the expansion. To celebrate Extinction’s release, Studio Wildcard made ARK free to play from November 6–11. There were also large discounts for all three of the game’s expansions as well as the season pass.

Together, the buzz of the new expansion, the reduced cost of the game’s content, and the free-to-play week helped the title appeal to new and lapsed players alike.

However, it is worth noting that ARK had a higher player share in December 2017, when it was played by 2.5% of all core PC gamers. This was the month that ARK’s previous expansion, Aberration, was released.

In November 2018, ARK was most popular in Germany, where it was played by 4.8% of core PC gamers (twice as many as the global average)—followed by Switzerland (4.4% of core PC gamers), Austria (4.4%), Australia (3.7%), and Belgium (3.7%).

The game’s average session time was 128.4 minutes. Although, core PC gamers in some markets played for significantly longer, including those in Greece (164.7 minutes), Canada (147.1), Australia (142.1), and the U.S. (140.5).

Notably, 8.2% of core PC gamers (in the U.S.) who played World of Tanks in the past two months churned to ARK in November.

This is surprising, as the two games are completely different genres, and World of Tanks actually increased in popularity since October.

Survival Games ARK, Fallout 76, and Rust Face Off

ARK’s expansion wasn’t November’s only notable survival release. There was also Fallout 76, the first multiplayer-only survival RPG in Bethesda’s beloved franchise. Rust, another multiplayer-only survival game, had a big update in November too, adding plenty of new content.

As mentioned, ARK was played by 2.4% of all core PC gamers. This is slightly more than both Rust and Fallout 76, which were played by 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively.

On average, ARK was also played for longer, with an average session time of 128.4 minutes vs. Fallout’s 91.3 minutes and Rust’s 73.1 minutes.

November’s Most Popular Core PC Games: Minecraft, Overwatch, World of Tanks, and Heroes of the Storm Perform Well

Minecraft jumped one spot to #5. During the month, Minecraft: Story Mode content was released on Switch (Season Two) and Netflix (three episodes of Season One). This may have inspired new/lapsed Minecraft gamers to play the title.

Blizzard’s Overwatch (#6) also rose one spot. The game added a new character, Ashe, in November, which typically attracts lapsed players.

World of Tanks took the #11 spot, climbing two positions. The game featured a 10th-anniversary celebration rewarding those who played World of Tanks in previous years. There were also plenty of XP multiplier events throughout November.

Heroes of the Storm secured the #16 position—up three spots from the previous month. On November 14, a new patch went live for the game, which included a new hero, Orphea.

ARK, of course, took #17 (up an impressive 17 spots), while Rust climbed two positions to #19.

Newzoo’s PC Game Tracker

Looking to easily identify and track key markets for your game, your competitor’s games, or even an entire publisher or genre? Or get detailed insights into player behavior, using metrics like play time, session time, and cross-over engagement/churn with other games? Newzoo’s PC Game Tracker offers an in-depth, monthly overview of more than 3,000 games and 100 publishers across 42 countries/markets The data is derived from Overwolf’s user base of 12 million PC game enthusiasts and can be easily sliced and diced in multiple ways using our Tableau-powered dashboard.

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